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Rockets’ James Harden says scoring streak is only ‘because of our situation’ in Houston
Reigning league MVP James Harden is piecing together another highly productive campaign for the Houston Rockets. This season has seen him take his scoring ability to the next level.
Harden will enter the season’s second half riding a 31-game streak of at least 30 points scored. However, the All-Star guard only views his impressive scoring stretch as being out of necessity to help push his team forward toward competing for the playoffs, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN.
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“The scoring streak is obviously amazing, but it’s something that I just had to do because of our situation,” Harden said in a sit-down interview with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols. “We had all the injuries and guys in and out of the lineup and things like that. So I think the streak just started happening, and now it’s like something to talk about.“But it’s not something that I’m really honestly focused on. That’s something I have to do in order to give us a chance to win the game.”
Regardless of Harden’s comments, it’s hard to overlook the offensive tear that he has been over the last several weeks. He has been the sole driving force for the Rockets. He’s averaging 41.5 points on 27.3 field goal attempts during this streak.
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His production has certainly taken a level up that saw him pick up the slack with other crucial contributors in Chris Paul and Clint Capela out of the lineup for long stretches. Paul has since returned, but that hasn’t taken Harden’s foot off the gas offensively.
What has become clearer during this process is that the Rockets may only go as far as Harden can take them behind his scoring.
